The closing of the Film Censor's Office is an indication that Irish people have far more liberal attitudes towards the depiction of sex, but it doesn't mean that they are opposed to censorship itself. Mr Quinn was reacting to yesterday's renaming of the Irish Film Censor's office with as the Irish Film Classification Office.
The move has been described as signifying a move away from “nanny state censorship”.
However, Mr Quinn said that such a body would still be prepared to ban certain films outright.
“For example, if an obviously racist movie were to come before the newly named office, there is no doubt it would be banned.
“It is just that such films don't get made, whereas films with a high degree of sexual content do get made.”
Responding to remarks made by the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern suggesting the move demonstrated that Ireland had become a more “mature” society, he asked whether it was more mature “to suddenly have a very high tolerance level for movies which would have previously been X-rated”.
He continued: “Many of the movies we now watch no reasonable person could call 'mature'. Often, the more infantile movies are, the better they do at the box office.”
The updated office title is one of a number of measures contained in new legislation which was signed into law by President McAleese last week.
However, the name change - which also sees John Kelleher, the Film Censor, renamed the Director of Film Classification - only came into effect yesterday.
Other changes passed into law last week include the phrase "likely to cause harm to children" being inserted into legislation for the first time, and the lowering of fees that will be charged for classifying DVDs and videos of special interest.
It is also now an offence, which can lead to a €2,000 fine, to sell or rent a DVD or video to an underage person and fines for existing offences, like letting underage cinema-goers into unsuitable movies, have been increased. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Disclaimer
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